Road to Understanding
by soultaker78
Summary: After doing some digging, Ember decides to form an allaince with Valerie to take down Danny once and for all.
1. Chapter 1

It was mid-afternoon in Amity Park, and a certain malicious spirit was hovering over the city. After managing to escape from the ghost zone, Ember was contemplating her next attempt at world domination through the power of music. But she knew that if any of her plans were to work, she would have to deal with the halfa known as Danny Phantom.

To this end, she had gotten her guitar upgraded by Technus during her last hiatus in the ghost zone. There were now two more settings on her pink and purple guitar; a symbol of two hands wide open that would force the target to reveal information to Ember and a symbol of a person collapsing to the ground that would drain ectoplasm from ghosts (or humans with ghost powers). Also, the guitar's durability was increased, making it harder to break and a more effective melee weapon.

So far Ember's plan was to find the goth girl who ruined her first attempt at a new world order, corner her when she was alone and use the new truth revealing power on her guitar to find out anything on the ghost kid that could be used to her advantage. Ember then spotted her target on the streets of the city and followed her; careful to avoid being seen by her quarry and any of the humans below.

Ember followed the girl for hours. Ember's target was spending the afternoon hanging out with her two best friends: a spectacled techno geek in a red beret and a seemingly normal boy with a mess of black hair, who Ember recognized as the halfa's human identity. It wasn't easy, but Ember managed to keep herself from attacking so that she could follow the girl and wait for the right opportunity to strike.

Eventually Ember followed the girl to her house. Ember felt that the perfect time to squeeze info about the halfa would be after the goth decided to go to bed: that way nobody would be bothering them for a couple hours.

Sam Manson entered her bedroom at around 8 p.m. after a day if hanging out with her two best friends and having dinner with her parents. she was planning to do her homework and surf the internet until it was time for her to go to bed. While she was thinking all this, she was unaware of the spiteful spirit who had been observing her all afternoon.

At around 11 p.m., Sam had changed into a silk black night gown and said good night to her parents when Ember floated down from the ceiling into the bedroom and blasted her with the new truth-telling power of her guitar.

"all right goth girl, first thing's first: what is your name?", asked Ember.

"Sam Manson", replied Sam.

"First, lets sit down," said Ember. Sam and Ember both sat down on Sam's bed. "OK Sammy, now tell me what you know about the ghost kid."

So Sam told Ember about Danny. She talked about the portal accident that gave him his powers (along with the story about the Desiree incident where it was revealed that Sam was indirectly responsible for giving Danny his powers). She also gave a brief summary of his ghost battling activities up to that point, and opinions on who she considered to be Danny's greatest threat.

After about 90 minuets, Ember got the impression that The goth girl had feelings for the ghost boy. "You really like him, don't you?" Ember asked.

"Yes," Sam answered.

"I meant as more than just a friend," Ember clarified.

"I know," Sam replied. "But he doesn't even see me like that. There are other girls who get that attention from him. Like this bubbly latina who annoys the crap out of me, or the hunter that wants to kill him."

Ember blinked in astonishment. "OK, your gonna have to explain that to me," she said.

And Sam told Ember what she knew about Valerie. About how the belligerent african-american girl who acquired ghost hunting weapons blamed Danny's ghost half for ruining her life, but came to have feelings for his human half.

Ember had heard rumors in the ghost zone about a female hunter in a red suit who went around blasting ghosts on some sort of hoverboard-like object. But based on the stories she had heard, most of this hunter's exploits consisted of trying to destroy everyone's least favorite halfa and bullying around the box ghost, and everyone did that.

"Fascinating. Tell me, what would happen if this Valerie found out Danny's secret?" Ember asked.

"Well, Tucker said it best that if she found out she would shoot first and ask questions never," said Sam.

"Really?" replied Ember with a devilish grin. The outlines of a plan were forming within the mind of the undead rocker. "all right Sam. You are going to go to sleep now and when you wake up, you won't remember any of what you have told me."

"all right," said Sam, and then she fell onto her pillow and drifted into unconsciousness.

Ember opened a window, threw her guitar out, then jumped on it and flew of into the night. She then looked back at Sam's house. _"You've been very helpful to me Sammy,"_ Ember thought to herself. _"When I take over the world, I'll make it up to you,"_


	2. Chapter 2

Ember headed over to Valerie's home. When the undead rocker got there, she headed into the bedroom of the ghost hunter. Ember noticed that the young girl's alarm clock was set for 7:00, and set it 20 minuets earlier so that she would get a chance to talk to this hunter. Of course, Ember would have to wait several hours for her chance, but that did not bother her. Being immortal gave one vast patience.

When Valerie's alarm clock went off, she turned towards it and noticed that it was earlier in the morning than she had expected. Normally she would have gone back to sleep, but then she heard a voice say, " hello hunter girl". Valerie turned towards the voice, and saw a ghost she had never seen before hovering over her bed. This ghost was female with pale skin, green eyes and electric blue hair tied into a ponytail. Valerie reached for the ecto-pistol she kept underneath her pillow, but the ghost stepped on her arm and said, " aw, now don't do that".

"What the hell do you want, spook", screamed Valerie.

"I just want to talk", replied Ember.

"Considering I don't have a choice but to listen, talk", said Valerie.

"Good. Now, I've heard that you have a grudge against the ghost kid you would know as Danny Phantom", Ember said and Valerie only nodded yes in response. Ember continued, "Well so do I. I realize this may seem cliched, but I think that together we might succeed where we have failed separately."

"What makes you think I need Your help to waste the ghost kid?" asked Valerie.

"If you were capable of destroying him on your own, then you would have by now. And with his reputation as a hero, You would have a hard time getting help from the other humans", Ember retorted.

Valerie contemplated this for a moment. While she hated all ghosts, she had to admit that this one made a particularly convincing argument. "If we're going to talk, could to you please get off my arm?" said Valerie.

"All right," Ember said as she stepped off the human's arm. Valerie then stepped out of bed. The musical spirit noticed that the human was dressed only in a pair of black shorts and an oversized white t-shirt.

"So, do you have a plan in mind, or are we just gonna wing it?" Valerie asked.

"Actually, I do have a plan," Ember stated. "I was thinking that later today, I go around town, causing some random destruction to lure the ghost kid out while you lie in wait. When he shows up, you take him by surprise and we double-team him."

"I don't like the idea of you causing property damage as bait," Valerie stated. "Couldn't we just go out and find him, then fight him?"

"No, because then we wouldn't have the element of surprise," Ember explained.

Valerie considered the female ghost's point. "All right," she said. "But if you hurt any people, or try to turn to on me, I won't hesitate to take you down. And when this is all over, you'll just be another target to me."

"Fair enough," said Ember. The musical ghost then held out her hand to the girl hunter. "Partners?"

"Partners," Valerie clarified, then took Ember's hand . "For now."

"Valerie, is someone else in there?" A voice asked from beyond the bedroom door. When the door opened, Valerie's father stepped into the room. His eyes looked at his daughter, then at the pale young woman shaking his daughter's hand. "Honey, who exactly is this?"

"Who the hell is this geek?" Ember asked to no one in particular.

"That's my dad," Valerie sneered at the ghost girl.

"Oops," Ember said, and then turned towards Valerie's dad. "Anyway, I'm Ember Mclain, and I will be working with your daughter to remove a mutual thorn from our asses."

"You're talking about the ghost kid, aren't you?" Damon asked. Ember silently nodded yes. "What is your problem with him?"

"he has ruined my plans for global conquest in the past. With him out of the way, I'll be queen of the world," Ember jubilantly explained to the older man.

"Not if I stop you," Valerie interjected.

"We'll see," Ember said. She then turned and walked toward the window in the room, looking out at the currently rising sun. "It's the dawning of a day---for both of us. Wherever the ghost kid is, I hope he is enjoying his last sunrise."

"How exactly did you find out about my daughter's double life?" Damon asked. He was curious as to how this ghost found out about Valerie's hunting activities, when he only found out because the ghost kid removed Valerie's mask in front of him one time.

Ember turned around to face him. "I just asked the right questions to the right people."

"Which questions? Which people?" Valerie asked the female ghost. As far she knew, the only ones who knew about her being a hunter were her father and Vlad Masters.

"I'll tell you after we kill the ghost kid," Ember taunted. She then threw her guitar out the window and hopped on it, still hovering. "I'll wait for you at a rooftop in the downtown area. When you want to do this, find me." After saying this the undead rocker flew off on her guitar.

"Valerie, are really going to go through with this?" Damon asked his daughter.

"I have to," the young girl responded. "These ghosts think they can do whatever they want. Well, someone needs to show them that the human world is not some big party that they can crash whenever they feel like it. And that ghost boy is the worst of them. He cost us our financial welfare, blew my secret to you and destroyed my old suit when I could have been it."

"But I have my job back and you have a new hunting suit that's even better than your old one. As for him blowing your secret, did you really think you could hide it from me forever?"

"Its beside the point that you've got your job back and that I have a new suit. As for blowing my secret, what place was it for him to take off my mask like that?"

Damon sighed and rubbed his temples. He said "All right, I can see that you're determined and I'm not going to try to stop you. But tell me this, Valerie: When the ghost kid is gone, are going to up ghost hunting?"

"When I destroy the ghost kid, I promise to significantly cut back on hunting and focus more on school, but I won't stop completely."

"Why would you want to continue hunting?" her father asked. "Is it because there are other ghosts out there that you feel you need to keep in line?"

"That's the main reason," Valerie answered, "but there's another reason I want to continue hunting: I'm good at it. You remember that talk we had, don't you?"

"Oh yes. I remember," Damon said. The talk they were referring to happened about three weeks after Valerie acquired her latest suit. She had presented her father with the argument that even though she was just an angry girl playing with generously donated toys, she was still more competent than most of the world's professional ghost hunters. She had been prepared to mention that the person who got her into ghost hunting in the first place was also the man who ultimately signed her dad's paychecks, but that had not been necessary. Damon had conceded to her argument, and agreed to not restrain her from hunting for the most part, but he had not agreed to stop being a concerned father.

"Then I take it that you have no problem with what I'm going to do," Valerie asked. Her father nodded yes. "Thank you. Now I have to go get ready for school."

Damon left the room, and Valerie started getting dressed. She felt good, like a new part of her life with new possibilities was about to begin.


	3. Chapter 3

It was 5:30 p.m., and Valerie was flying to her meeting with Ember, carrying her newest toy over her shoulder: an ecto cannon of considerable size. The cannon was about 4.5 feet long, with a circular barrel and slightly larger circular part at the base. The cannon had the same black and red color scheme as her new suit.

This new weapon had an interesting origin behind it. 3 days after she acquired her latest suit, she tried carrying her old favorite weapon-- the ecto grenade-launcher, which had survived the destruction of her original suit-- with the new suit. After she held the gun, material from the suit started spreading over the weapon. After about 5 minuets, the material receded back to the suit, and the gun had changed form. Valerie was a bit concerned that her new suit might have a mind of its own, but it never did anything she didn't want it to do.

After 10 minuets of flying, she spotted Ember sitting on a rooftop. Ember had been sitting there all day, playing with her guitar to pass the time. Valerie touched down on the rooftop and her bladed jet-sled disappeared beneath her feet.

"Sorry I'm late," Valerie said. "Unlike you, I had a life to live."

"Cute," Ember said with venom in her voice. "I despise cute."

"Whatever. Lets just get this over with."

"For someone who is supposed to be a hunter, you don't have much patience. You remember the plan?"

"I remember. Just don't try anything funny."

After their exchange was complete Ember jumped off the rooftop, floated in place, and started pelting the cityscape below her with sonic fists. People started screaming and running away from her rampage.

After 10 minuets of random destruction, a figure was seen flying towards Ember. She saw that it was Danny Phantom, which meant he had fallen for the bait.

"Well, if it isn't my least favorite spectral musician," Danny said.

"It's about time you showed up," Ember said, then flew towards Danny and swung her guitar. Danny flew up to avoid the blow, and then countered by firing an ecto blast. Ember moved to the side and avoided the blast.

Valerie then saw her opening. Danny was currently above her with his back to her. She aimed her cannon and fired. The red energy blast hit its target. With Danny stunned, Ember took this opportunity to fly up to his level. She then swung her guitar in a downward motion and Danny began falling. Ember followed through by striking her guitar and sending 2 sonic fists toward Danny. When the fists hit, he fell faster and landed in an alley between two buildings.

Valerie got on her jet-sled and flew to her downed opponent. Ember floated down to join them.

Danny had his back on the floor when he saw Valerie and Ember in front of him. "Since when are you two working together?" he asked.

"Since we realized we had a common enemy in you," Ember said, then turned the dial on her guitar to the symbol of a person collapsing to the ground. "This will drain what's left of your energy, and probably force you to change back."

"Change back?" Valerie asked.

Ember started playing her guitar and 3 black tendrils went through Danny. After a while two white rings appeared around his waist and moved vertically in opposite directions. Now Danny Fenton stood where Danny Phantom had been.

"What?" Valerie said. This was a complete shock to her. She couldn't believe that the ghost kid she passionately hated and the nice guy who she almost went steady with were the same. But here it was in front of her.

"Go on, finish him," Ember said. "He's powerless and completely at your mercy, assuming you have any."

Valerie put Danny in the cross-hairs of her cannon. She noticed the look of fear in Danny's eyes, and instantly had doubts about what she was doing. She then lowered the cannon.

"Fine. If you're not going to put him out of our misery, then I will," Ember said and began walking toward the still weakened Danny.

"Not so fast, you flaming bitch!" Valerie yelled. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she had raised her cannon to Ember's head.

"What seems to be the problem, partner?" Ember asked.

"How did you know about Danny? And how did you know about me? And why do all this?"

"I knew about him being half-ghost since our first battle. As for learning about you, I found that out from his goth friend. I was curious as to what you would do if I revealed his secret to you. I was hoping you would instantly kill him like the goth girl said. I must say, I'm disappointed."

"Like I give a damn about what you think of me," Valerie said. Then she noticed Danny crawling backward on his but, no doubt hoping to get away. "Not so fast Danny." After making this statement, Valerie took her cannon and fired it to the left of Danny as a warning shot. Ember then took this opportunity to go intangible through the floor and escape from the crazy lady with the big gun.

"She may have gotten away, but at least I still have you," Valerie said to Danny. "Let's take this someplace more private."

Valerie then pulled Danny to his feet and dragged him through a door into one of the buildings along side the alley. The room they were in now looked like an empty storeroom that hadn't been used in quite some time. Now her shock had been replaced by curiosity.

"Now Danny," Valerie said, " We're going to play a little game."

"As long as the game isn't hide and seek and destroy, I'm up for anything," Danny said.

"Shut up," Valerie said and then held up her cannon as if to fire it at Danny. "Here's how it goes: I'm going to ask you questions, and you'll answer them."

"And if you don't like the answers I give you?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," after Valerie said this, Danny gulped.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Well that didn't go as planned," _Ember thought to herself after escaping from Valerie. _"Time for plan B."_


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay Danny," Valerie said while taking off the helmet of her suit, "first thing's first: what's up with you and the ghost kid being the same person?"

Danny took in a breath while mentally sizing himself up for the task ahead. "Well it all started about a year ago. I was messing around with one of my parents' inventions when an accident happened. When the dust settled, I discovered that I could transform into a ghost version of myself and got all kinds of cool powers."

"Are you still... you know... human"

"I'm not sure. I know that the ghosts in the ghost zone call me a halfa."

"Halfa?"

"Half a ghost, half a human. Halfa."

"Okay," Valerie said while nodding her head in understanding. "But what about the time you and that ghost dog wrecked up Axion Laps? You cost my dad his job. You ruined my life!"

After shouting this declaration, Valerie realized that her life had not been as negatively changed as she thought. If not for that incident, she never would have met Danny or discovered her passion for ghost hunting.

"That was accident," Danny said. "I would never do anything like that on purpose."

"All right, I'll buy that for now," Valerie said. She knew from the time she had spent with Danny that he was a genuinely nice person, so much so that she was sure he had not faked it. "What about when you exposed my secret to my dad during the incident with the ghost king? I had a good thing going."

"I'm sorry about that, but I needed to stop you from trying to take my parents' ecto-skeleton without hurting you. I did you a favor: if the ghost king or his minions hadn't killed you, then the feedback from the suit would have." After saying this, Danny got a look on his face like he was remembering something unpleasant.

"What's wrong Danny?"

"I was just remembering how even with a small army of my enemies helping me out and the ecto-skeleton augmenting my powers, it was still a close win."

Valerie was contemplating his words. She remembered Mrs. Fenton saying that the mech suit was potentially fatal. At the time she did not heed the warning, so it was possible that Danny had been trying to save her. But in her mind that did not make up for exposing her secret.

"Back on subject: Do your parents even know about you and what you do?" she asked.

"No they don't. But if this is such a big thing to you, why don't we make a deal: you give me 1 week to tell my parents. If I haven't done that by then, you can break the news to them however you want," Danny said.

He knew what he was getting into. Ever since the incident with Freakshow and the reality gauntlet where Danny got a chance to see his parents' reactions to learning the truth, he had briefly considered telling them about his double life. He had not done so yet because he liked keeping his secret as much as possible, and telling them would only complicate things. But now he needed something to calm Valerie down, and despite his desire for secrecy he did know what he was getting into.

"Why should I agree to your deal when I just tell them whenever I want," Valerie retorted.

"Because telling them my secret would not cause your dad to unlearn yours," Danny said. "They are going to find out. All I'm asking is that you give me the chance to tell them under ideal circumstances."

Valerie considered what he said. He made a good point about her dad not unlearning her secret, and she figured that she owed Danny the chance she never got. And if he chickened out, she could still blow his secret.

"All right, we have a deal," Valerie said. " Now, what about when you destroyed my old suit? I could have been in there!"

"But I knew you weren't in there, and I only destroyed the suit BECAUSE I knew you weren't in it." After saying this, Danny noticed that Valerie looked confused. "Your suit was being remote controlled by one of my enemies. When I saw that you weren't in it, I knew I didn't have to hold back fighting against the hollow suit."

"You really expect me to believe that?"

"look at it this way: I could have destroyed the suit during any of our previous battles when I knew you were in it, but I didn't. Now that I think about it, a lot of our battles have begun with you firing the first shot, and me only defending myself or trying to fly away."

Even Valerie had to admit that he was right. The majority of their skirmishes had happened just as he described. She then realized that she was responsible for the perpetuation of their conflict, and planned to stop it.

"I"m sorry Danny. For everything." After saying this, Valerie lowered her cannon and had a look of regret on her face. "But I would have stopped coming after you if you had told me about... you know... you."

"Really?" Danny said, quirking an eyebrow.

"What do you mean "really?". You thought I would still come after you if I found out your secret? I'm insulted."

"Sorry about that Val. I just thought if you found out, you would still be angry. What it comes down down to is, I felt you finding out was just not a risk worth taking."

"I can understand that. How many other people know about you?"

"Tucker and Sam were there the day I got my powers. And my older sister Jazz later found out on her own. And now, there's you."

"So, where do we go from here?"

"I'm not sure," after Danny said this, his cell phone went off. "Can I take this?" Valerie nodded yes. "Thanks. Hello?"

"Hello Dipstick," Danny heard from a familiar voice at the other end.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ember?" Danny said with shock evident in his voice. "How did you get my number?"

"I got it form a mutual acquitence of ours who is also letting me borrow her phone," Ember said. "And her she is now. Say hi Sammy."

"Danny, help me!" Said Sam's voice through the phone

"Sam," Danny said in surprise. "What are you up to Ember?"

"I just want to finish the fight we started," Ember said. "I'm at an abandoned foundry about fifteen miles southwest of your high school. If you aren't here alone within the next 30 minuets, I'll be sending Sam to the ghost zone the old fashioned way."

"Wait," Danny tried to say to Ember, but she shut her phone abruptly.

"Danny, what's going on?" asked Valerie.

"Ember has captured Sam, and wants me to come to her or else Sam will die. I'm going ghost."

Danny then tried to transform, but the horizontal rings only made it about half way through their course before they receded and disappeared.

"Something wrong, Danny?" Valerie asked.

"My powers seem to be malfunctioning," Danny said. "Probably from whatever Ember did to me earlier."

"Let me help you," Valerie said. She may not have liked the goth girl, but that did not mean she was going to let her die.

"I can't. Ember told me to come alone."

"Oh you'll look alone. But you won't be alone."

Ember had just closed Sam's phone and was looking at her prisoner. Sam was chained with her arms above her head and her feet a few inches from the ground. The two of them were on a raised walkway in the abandoned foundry Ember had told Danny about .

After Valerie decided not to kill Danny, Ember initiated her contingency plan. That plan was to use the goth girl as bait and force Danny into a fight he could not win.

"Just so you know, I am sorry about this," Ember said to Sam. "I'm sorry about a lot. I'm sorry I had to kidnap you, sorry the ghost kid doesn't return your feelings and sorry that your parents are such hopeless preps."

"Oh god, tell me about it," Sam said, and was then hit by a wave awareness. "Wait a minuet. How do you know about my parents?"

"Oh that. Well it all started yesterday..."

Ember then told Sam about how she had been followed the previous day, and then probed for information during the night. Ember then gave a quick summary of what happened so far with her plan.

"That would explain why I've been so sleepy all day," Sam said. "But what you said earlier about Danny not returning my feelings. I know he does on some level. He just has to."

"What makes you certain?" Ember asked.

"Well, lets see. What about the time you made him fall in love with me the first time we fought you?"

"About that," Ember said while using her left hand to rub the back of her head. "The spell I used on him made him fall in love with the first person he saw. I could have used it to make him love with me. In retrospect, I probably should have done that."

"Oh," Sam said with a forlorn look on her face. "Ember, why are you doing all this?"

"You mean the whole take over the world thing?" Ember asked and Sam nodded her head yes. "It's quite simple really. I want to make the world a better place."

"You mean with you in charge?"

"Yes. But there's more than that. I look around and I see people going about their lives, completely absorbed in their own self-assured sense of superiority and it makes me sick. It also makes me glad I'm not human anymore."

Ember looked at Sam and saw that she had a look on her face like she had just realized something shocking.

"Something wrong?" Ember asked.

Before Sam could answer, the door to the foundry opened and Danny entered in human form. Ember then jumped from the raised walkway she was on floated towards Danny, finally touching down on the ground in front of him.

"All right Ember," Danny said. "I'm here. Now let Sam go."

"I will let her go: after I kill you," Ember said, and then struck her guitar, sending two sonic fists towards Danny. But Danny managed to dodge them in time and began running for his life.

As Ember was going after Danny, Valerie (in full hunter gear) flew up and entered the building through an open window. She moved towards Sam and blasted the goth's chains off with one of the mini-blasters in her hands.

"Valerie? What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Saving your ass." Valerie said matter-of-factly. She then raised her cannon over shoulder, trying to get Ember in her cross hairs. "Now let me give you a lesson on the element of surprise."

Valerie fired, and the red energy beam hit Ember on her left side. With Ember dazed, Danny whipped out a Fenton thermos he had with him and fired it Ember. The undead rocker was quickly sucked into the containment device. Valerie then took Sam down to Danny on her bladed jet sled.

"Danny," Sam began, "What exactly is going on here?"

"Its a very long story, Sam," Danny started, "But basicly, Valerie now knowns about me being Danny Phantom."

"She does? Not to sound ungrateful, but if she knows then why are you still alive?"

"I am getting really sick and tired of everyone assuming I'd kill Danny if I found out about his secret," Valerie said with disdain.

"Sorry about that Val," Danny said. "Ok, so the really big question is what do we do now?"


	6. Chapter 6

Danny looked at his watch and noticed that it was 7:15. "Oh crap!" he said.

"Something wrong Danny?" Sam asked.

"My family is having dinner in fifteen minuets. If I'm not there in time, things are going to get really ugly for me."

"I can get you there in about 10 minuets," Valerie said.

"Can you give me a ride too?" Sam asked.

"Do I have too?"

"Yes, Valerie, you do." Danny said.

"All right. You two hop on then," after Valerie said this Danny and Sam and got on her bladed jet sled.

"Oh, Danny, I want a chance to talk to Ember before we send her back to the ghost zone," Sam said.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"Personal reasons."

"Shut up you two and hold on," Valerie said, and then put the proverbial pedal to the metal on her jet sled.

as they flew away at a remarkable speed, Sam clung to Danny who clung to Valerie. About 10 minuets later, they came to the side of Danny's house.

"OK you two," Danny said after dismounting from Valerie's jet sled. "Come back her at around 8:30, and we will clear the air about everything along with Tucker and Jazz."

"OK Danny," Sam said.

"Bye Danny," Valerie said and flew off with Sam.

Danny walked through the door and entered his home. "Mom, Dad, I'm home," he said.

"Danny, you're just in time for dinner," his mother said from the kitchen.

"So Danny, did you hear about the ghost attack down town today?" his father asked as Danny came into the kitchen.

"No dad, I did not," Danny lied.

"I guess those ghosts knew I was coming and started high tailing it."

"Whatever you say Dad,"

The Fenton family sat down to dinner. The meal transpired without incident. At 8:30 Danny, Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Valerie gathered in Danny's room.

"Danny, what exactly is Valerie doing here?" Tucker asked.

"I'm glad you asked that Tuck," Danny said. "The short answer to your question is that she now knows about me being Danny Phantom."

"She knows? And your still alive? That's nothing short of miraculous."

"Tucker," Valerie said, her eyes narrowing in anger, "the next two words out of your mouth better be "sorry Val", or the third word is going to be "my crotch, my crotch, oh dead lord, you punched me in the crotch."

"Sorry Val," Tucker said quickly, without hesitation.

"Good boy"

"Threats of genital violence aside," Jazz began, "How exactly did this come to be?"

So Danny and Valerie began telling their stories about how Ember tried to use Valerie's' rage to kill Danny.

"So now we need to discuss where this leaves us," Sam said.

"Well I'm giving up going after Danny, and I was hoping we could work together hunting other ghosts," Valerie said.

"That sounds good," Danny said.

"Danny, I hope you haven't forgotten about that promise you made."

"Promise? What promise?" Jazz said, quirking an eyebrow.

"I kinda promised Valerie that I would tell my parents my secret," Danny said.

"What?" Sam said, "Are you seriously going to go through with this?"

"Its all right. I know what I'm doing and I had to agree to it to calm Valerie down after she found out."

"Well," Tucker began to interject, "if it keeps Valerie on our side and not trying to kill us, I'm for it."

"Just remember that when you tell them to bring up the their threats and they should understand," Jazz said.

"Should?" Danny asked.

"Well, there is no way to tell if things will happen exactly like they did the first time."

"First time?" Valerie asked.

"Its a long story, Valerie. Maybe we'll tell you it one day," Danny said.

"When are going to tell them?" Sam asked.

"In a few days," Danny said.

"All right. Danny, I want to talk to Ember now."

"I remember that you said you wanted to do that, but I don't want to let her out in my room. Lets go to the roof."

"What's wrong with the lab?" Tucker asked.

"Parents are using it," Jazz explained.

"OK everyone, lets go," Danny said and everyone went to the roof so Sam could have her conversation with Ember.

Author's notes: there will be a sequel that will pick up exactly where this left off. The reason I won't going any further than this is because from here on, there will be some pairings, and ones most people won't like. The pairings will be DannyxValerie, TuckerxJazz and Sam/Ember.


End file.
